How one atheist sees life

Anti-theists Are Assholes!

Before I get started I want to give a shout out to Belgium and the many other countries where my readers live.

United States

32

Belgium

6

United Kingdom

5

Brazil

3

Australia

2

Cayman Islands

1

Canada

1

France

1

Now, on to this other little problem. Today I’ve run across a blogger that seems to think that anti-theism is the militant kind of atheism and that which wants to rid the world of all religion. Wikipedia says:

An antitheist is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “One opposed to belief in the existence of a god.” The earliest citation given for this meaning is from 1833. An antitheist may be opposed to belief in the existence of any god or gods, and not merely one in particular.

Antitheism has been adopted as a label by those who take the view that theism is dangerous or destructive. One example of this view is demonstrated in Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001), in which Christopher Hitchens writes: “I’m not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief, is positively harmful.”[1]

I happen to agree with this definition. Before you get upset, know that I don’t think absolutely all religions or religious functions are evil. There are religions which, I have come to believe, are essentially humanist in principle yet seek the mystic in practice even if for them the mystical is an undefined quality of being human. Such religions and practices are not in and of themselves harmful to society as I see it. I should one day go into this more and get collaborative assistance on such as Wicca and Polytheism and Hellenism etc.

Yes, that title is a bit inflammatory but that is what I’m getting from some people. Anti-theists are the ass-hole variety of atheist. This simply is not true. I also happen to be anti-dayglo spandex clothes in XXX sizes. I’m also anti-drama and anti-ass-hole. I do not campaign against these things I’m against and do not need to in order to hold the position that I think they are bad for society, harmful even. My ire is directed in particular to the big three of monotheism: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Without these groups I believe the world would be a better place. Then again I’m not really a soothsayer, so don’t trust me.What I do know is that they cause more harm than they do good. The net effect is that they jointly are the biggest force for evil in the world.

Yes, great aunt Judy, that kind and gentle old lady is right in there with the fundies. Why? She gives her money to the church she attends. That church supports larger organizations and those organizations support efforts to block prop 8, ban abortions, and fight healthcare that provides birth control etc. Her few dollars adds to the few dollars of millions of more people so that while she didn’t shoot an abortion clinic doctor she supported all the people it took to convince others to do it. They are currently on the African continent supporting ‘kill the gays’ bills and telling people that condoms spread AIDS and that witches should be burned. That’s right, kindly old great aunt Judy – that evil bitty. It is the money from these well meaning, but deluded, individuals that supports the efforts to oppress others, curtail their rights, and harm those that do not believe in the same god or any god at all. They fund the whackjobs that go on television to proclaim that hurricanes are because of gays, earthquakes are because of women’s attire, and mass murders are because of atheism and the queer and atheist agendas. Those mild well meaning people support the most divisive ideas and people on the planet. I oppose this, and I encourage others to do so as well.

Nothing good can come from religions that we cannot get elsewhere without the dogma, bigotry, and hate. Allowing great aunt Judy to put the Ten Commandments on a plaque in the local school is how we get into a spot where religious dogma dominates public discourse and rule of law. It is not acceptable and I do not accept it. As nice as great aunt Judy is, she has to be stopped!

I also happen to believe that education rather than protestation is the best way to do this. No, I do not have a grand plan but I feel this is the most effective means of achieving peace between religion and non-religion and society within the framework of The Constitution. I realize that this only applies to my country but others have found ways to do so in their own countries. I necessarily must concern myself with my own country foremost.

There it is. What I think and feel about my use of and claim to the label anti-theist.

That said, I do eat babies. mmmmmm They’re delicious. I like them cooked rather than raw, but eat them raw sometimes. I like them so much I sometimes have 2 or 3 in one sitting. They are best at breakfast time, but I like them all through the day. If life begins at conception, we all eat babies. You can get them on a sandwich at McDonald’s for a buck most days, but I dislike those croisandwhich thingies. I want my fried baby on a biscuit with a slab of peppered cow flesh and some rotten cow’s milk! mmm mmm mmm Now, I’m hungry!

I was born an raised agnostic, graduated to atheism in my late teens, and in my early twenties I can now align my beliefs (or lack thereof) closest with anti-theism. Kudos for doing a good job defending us anti-theists in this, the prefix ‘anti’ would probably leave the otherwise uninformed to think we are a militant and hateful lot. The only area where I disagree with you is where you reference some religions as being rooted in mysticism but are generally harmless and you have not taken a firm stance against them. I suppose to some extent I agree with you, especially if you were to call something like Taoism a religion, but I urge you to remember that in any of these beliefs people are disposing of their inherent logic and reason and likely dismissing science and fact to replace with the very mysticism that you mentioned. This will also likely be passed to their children, and for this reason I regard all religion as dangerous.

Phreethinking Jedi, Thanks for commenting. I agree with you that some folk are disposing of logic and reason to believe in mysticism, completely but I choose to draw the line at where I disagree with someone else’s beliefs at the point they _are_ caustic to society. It’s a bit fuzzy around people passing belief to their children, I’ll admit. As long as they are accepting of science fact and use reason and logic to interact in the public square I feel okay with them regardless of their belief about consciousness.

As stated, I believe that education is the best remedy so watch this space. I’ll be (am writing now) posting about consciousness and free will which cannot help but encroach on mysticism. Having said that I understand that there are reasoning and logical people that enjoy the framework of religious practice of varying sorts. Being one of those folk who seems to be mildly OCD I can appreciate the human need for structure and frameworks on which to hang our understanding of the daily grind of surviving.

Because of these things and more I have a difficult time drawing a clear black and white line on what I think is good or bad about some mystic beliefs. I started this blog to explore such things in my own head and hear what others think. I hope you’ll join in.

Blaming religion for the world’s social problems is about as sensical as blaming music, television, or video games. For real, do you seriously think the world would be any different without religion, like you think people wouldn’t hate, exploit, & destroy each other as much as they do now? Get real, kids. Anti-theism is a load of reactionary nonsense, and it gives atheism a bad name. But hey, I guess you’re entitled to act like simple-minded assholes, so have fun. Thanks for listening, peace out niggas

Wow, I don’t get too many negative replies here so let me answer your claims logically. First, I’m not a nigga and I think the term derogatory. You shouldn’t speak that way if you wish to be respected. You’ve called anti-theists simple minded assholes who are full of reactionary nonsense which does not explain why you think so, only that you are negative.

When you ask: ” For real, do you seriously think the world would be any different without religion, like you think people wouldn’t hate, exploit, & destroy each other as much as they do now?” you have exactly demonstrated my point with this post. In fact it looks like you are volunteering to be the poster child for ignorance since you have demonstrated your misunderstanding in the comments of a blog about the very misunderstanding that you labor under. You might as well have said that you are not one of those bigoted idiots that uses the word nigga like it doesn’t mean anything derogatory. Awesome.

I’m nominating you for idiot of the week here at myatheistlife blog. Congratulations.

“Her few dollars adds to the few dollars of millions of more people so that while she didn’t shoot an abortion clinic doctor she supported all the people it took to convince others to do it. They are currently on the African continent supporting ‘kill the gays’ bills and telling people that condoms spread AIDS and that witches should be burned. That’s right, kindly old great aunt Judy – that evil bitty.”

Don’t be too hard on aunt Judy. She probably is unaware of the harm her contribution to the church does. The pastor, priest, minister, or reverend probably has her beguiled with his, her, or its charm. My mother-in-law, who passed away in 2010 at age 96, supported United Methodists all her life without a clue what they were doing with her money behind her back.
In many ways I am an anti-theist but I wear the atheist label. A while back there was some movement toward an Atheist plus label. I refused to adopt that one either, though I shared most all their sentiments.
If there was a picture, for some reason it did not display on my screen.

There was a table and an embedded video in the post. Those who read my posts regularly know I’m not hard on aunt Judy. My mother is such a person. I use aunt Judy to demonstrate that even the meek are at fault and wrong.

“I also happen to be anti-dayglo spandex clothes in XXX sizes.” Haha..This makes two of us. I also like that you didn’t condemn the anti-theist. I am very much one. Militant about it? Perhaps. But I see it like this: Being true to the Atheist belief is to accept the fact that God “might” be real; however, it is so unlikely that it is not even worth considering. And this is true. This goes back to the scientific process and the use of deductive reasoning. One must have some sort of physical evidence or tangible item to “measure” in the lab before the scientist can say the answer is most likely this or that. However, they never claim that anything is “absolutely” this or that. Instead, s/he says, “the most likely reason for these results are because..blah, blah.” Unfortunately, there are many atheist who don’t know this and they spout out, “God does not exist!!!” Although they are likely correct, their absolute claim is wrong and comparable to the religious fools who are also poorly informed, anything is possible. But they are likely less educated and became an atheist because it’s trendy in some circles. But they’re as misinformed about their “belief” as the religious fool.

Antitheism is one who believes like the Atheist, but it is still a belief/a faith. It’s just that I think gods are so, so highly unlikely that I accept the Atheist ideal and am willing to act on it (antitheist). Most Atheists are “do-nothings.” There contribution to change is sharing blasphemous humor on Facebook. They contribute little to nothing to a secular world. They’ll claim they vote and that’s their part. The problem is that Atheist America is outvoted by the believers (in 2016 there will likely be a caustic backlash of fundamentalist Christianity which will attempt to uproot all the progress that Atheism has accomplished in the last 5 years). Are we, Antitheists, violent? Are we assholes? Well, I can only speak for myself and when it comes to how I treat religious people, I guess I am. I never much cared for my Aunt Judy. But I find them to be subhuman and not deserving of the rights of man. I think they should be treated as children with over active imaginations. We don’t let kids vote. We give them curfews. We send them to school to be educated. And unfortunately we also have to change their diapers after they shit on the world.

I know that by my antitheist hostility, I am no different than they are. I accept that. They believe their religion so much so, they are willing to go to war over it. I believe my atheism so much so, that I too am ready to go to war over it. The difference between us and them is that we are more likely correct. And we’re tired of them interfering with all the things you previously mentioned.

(on a side note, I liked your egg sandwich analogy. But, so that some religious fool attempt to attack you and call you ignorant for your humor, I believe an egg and yolk is an unfertilized egg surrounded by a food source like a placenta…so it was never a baby, just an egg…it was still funny though.)

Hey, thanks for stopping by to comment and read.
I think the lack of a real answer for gods will likely keep the argument going for a while yet. I’m trying not simply to fight, but to fight bad ideas. Religion rests on the notion that life is more than simple materialist principles. When we show that consciousness itself is truly natural in origin there will be no basis for their ‘feelings’ of gods.

Agreed. We think alike in many ways. I hope that my rather “caustic” approach to religion doesn’t run you off. We, Non-belivers, are small in number and I think it is important we all stick together (Atheist and Antitheist alike). I think Antitheist have the devotion and bravery to fight the “war.” And after the war is over, power should be handed over to the Atheist in order to sustain peace. “Raekwon The Chef” (commented above) is one, that I believe to be, a passive Atheist. My blog, “my forum” is for Antitheists and Aggressive Atheists. Unfortunately his belief, and many like his, believe in taking a passive and peaceful approach to change.

Our adversaries (the believers) are far from that and they outnumber us by about 6000 to 1. Violence is their modus operandi, and it preserves their current level of power and influence. In essence, his beliefs are in concert with “passing the buck.” His beliefs pass the burden of change to his children and grandchildren and so on. If by taking vigilant action now, perhaps we could see a secular America in our lifetime. In essence, we could see our grandchildren living in the world we have conceptualized and provided for them. We did this so that they would not have to experience alienation as we have for our principles. We could see them progress to enlightenment and preserve the power of science and all the fruits of its labors.

We will have fought the fight that they should never have to fight and snuff out religion and all their influence upon the world. Spain is notorious for this, and I commend them. My words are somewhat treasonous in my country, but, they are the principles for which I stand, and they are “more likely” to be true. Atheism requires so little faith. Religion requires an enormous amount of unfounded and untested faith. My life does not revolve around the Will of God. My life revolves around my will.

By the way, I’m new to the wordpress forum and trying to keep up with all comments and the nuances of the software. I’ll get the hang of it. However, when and if you make a comment, post it in a such a fasion so that a monkey like me can find it easily. Thanks again.

o ye n good job bein consistent with your whole adherence to anti-theism by callin your blog MYATHEISTLIFE lmao, why is it that tha vast, VAST majority of anti-theists both online & irl always hide behind tha label of atheism when they know damn well that morally/socially consistent atheism is mad similar in nature to agnosticism?